Sticky German Cinnamon Schnecken with Raisins and Maple Syrup

Sunday morning, the cosy smell of espresso bubbling in my espresso maker and fresh, warm buns on the table, there's no better weekend treat! This week, my breakfast buns are German schnecken, sticky pastry snails, filled with cinnamon and raisins, sweet, juicy and buttery. The top is crisp but when you pull the buns apart you can feel their soft inside, it's puffy, infused with cinnamon, slightly soaked with a thick syrup made of butter, sugar and a splash of maple syrup. They taste divine, I love them!

I had planned to bake cardamom buns for days but a package of raisins changed my mind in the last second and brought the cinnamon in. I like this combination so much that I forget about other spices sometimes, but next time it'll be cardamom again!

Cinnamon Schnecken

For 14 Schnecken you need

• plain flour 600g / 21 ounces

• granulated sugar 75g / 3 ounces

• dry yeast 1 package (for 500g / 1 pound of flour)

• salt 1 teaspoon

• ground cinnamon 1 leveled teaspoon

• butter, melted, 100g / 3.5 ounces

• milk, lukewarm, 225ml / 7.5 ounces

• organic eggs 2

For the syrup

• water 50ml / 2 ounces

• granulated sugar 120g / 4.5 ounces

• maple syrup 1 tablespoon

• butter 50g / 2 ounces

For the filling

• raisins 60g / 2 ounces

• granulated sugar 30g / 1 ounce

• ground cinnamon 1 tablespoon

Combine the dry ingredients. Mix the hot melted butter with the cold milk and the 2 eggs, this way the liquid mixture will have the right lukewarm temperature (check with a finger). Mix the dry and the liquid mixture with your dough hooks for 5 minutes until well combined. Continue kneading with your hands for around 5 minutes until you have an elastic dough ball. Put the dough back into the bowl and cover with a tea towel. Let the dough rise in a 35°C / 95°F warm oven for 70 minutes. Make sure that your oven is set to top/ bottom heat and not to fan.

Bring all the ingredients for the syrup to a boil and cook on a medium heat for 3 minutes. Mix the raisins, sugar and cinnamon for the filling.

Take the dough out, punch it down and knead for 1 minute. Roll it out on a working surface (roughly 36 x 32cm / 14 x 12.5"), spread with the syrup and sprinkle with the sugared raisins. Roll it up tightly, cut into 14 schnecken and put into a buttered springform pan (around 26cm /10″), arrange them in a circle. Cover with a tea towel and let them rise for 20 minutes in a warm place.

Set your oven to 175°C / 350°F (fan-assisted oven).

Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Let them cool for a few minutes before you take them out of the pan.